The art of killing dragons

Recently, Habrahabr has been talking a lot about the educational process. On this occasion, I want to remind you of one old, many well-known parable, by quoting it from there :

Once upon a time a boy lived in a small mountain village. He was handsome, clever and very clever. He quickly learned everything that adults living in the same village could teach him: he had long been able to make dishes from clay, weave, fish, was the best hunter and the most skillful rider.

One day an old man came down from the highest mountain to the village and told him:

- You have learned everything that your relatives can give you. Come with me, and I will teach you the art of killing dragons. This is a very ancient art, and it requires a lot of time, effort and desire. Few are able to master it. But you are an unusual boy.
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And the boy agreed.

And then they left this village and retired to an abandoned castle, where the old man began to teach him the art of killing dragons. It took the boy many years to master all the skills. Even after the death of the elder, he persistently continued to train, following his advice from memory.

And then one day he realized that he had mastered the art of killing dragons. And then he went around all the forests of the Earth, all the fields and countries in search of a dragon and nowhere found him. Then he decided to climb the highest mountain and explore the Earth from its height. He spent a few more years of his life on the path to this mountain and on the rise, but, having risen to the mountain, he did not see the dragon anywhere. And then he realized that not a single dragon was left on Earth for a long time.

And then he came down from the mountain to a small mountain village, where he found the smartest, most talented boy, who had long since learned everything that the inhabitants of his village could tell him, and began to teach him the art of killing dragons.

What is this parable about?

Many will see in it a satire on old bureaucrats from education, which reproduce the vicious circle of the transfer of outdated knowledge.

This view has the right to be considered fair.

But one commentator in LiveJournal remarked :

- And so there are those who canvases and dishes to do, but a dragon will fly in - who will kill him if ancient art dies?

This view also has the right to be considered fair.

In addition, ancient art is undoubtedly able to modernize when the master comprehends the science of his teachers and adapts them to the means of his age. At first, the dragon fighters would prepare to shoot a dragon from a crossbow, then from an arquebus, then from a squeak, then from a submachine gun, then from Kalashnikov. At first, dragonbats would prepare to secretly kill the dragon with poisoned water, then with poisonous gas, then with bacteriological weapons, then with genetically modified victims.

Here is an example from life: from the gray depths of a half-forgotten past, the ancient art of compiling editors of Fidonet echomail, capable of uniting people beyond and over networks built by monopolists and oligopolists of information connections, reached us. However, such editors can now be created using Gecko, jQuery, XPCOM, AJAX, and Firefox javascript libraries (for example, FUEL). The main thing is not the means, but the goal.

Far from the icy North, from snow-covered Moscow, I can hear the ominous rustle of Svyazinvest's webbed, scaly wings.